1950s
In the 1950s, Ed Shaughnessy was moved from mornings to an afternoon slot, losing his partner, Rainbow (Elmer Walters) in the process. KDKA, impressed with the success Rege Cordic had on WWSW, hired Cordic away. He started his KDKA run on Labor Day, 1954. The Cordic & Company morning show, featuring a team of bright and innovative personalities, gave birth to today's "morning team" radio format, but in an unconventional way. Cordic and his group played a bit of music, but mainly created on-air mayhem in the form of skits, recurring characters such as "Louie The Garbageman" and space alien "Omicron." When Ed Shaughnessy did the news and read a commercial for a local brand of bacon, a sound effect of frying usually ran with it. One day, Cordic substituted a sound effect recording of explosions, and Shaughnessy barely kept his composure. Cordic's crew included Karl Hardman and Bob Trow, later known for portraying "Bob Dog" on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood.
The 1950s saw a shift to local programming at KDKA as national radio shows were moving to television. Art Pallan, also hired away from WWSW, and Bob Tracey became household names on the KDKA airwaves, playing the popular music of the day. For some years, announcer Sterling Yates, also a musician, played hip, progressive jazz on a Sunday morning broadcast. On January 1, 1951, a couple named Ed and Wendy King launched Party Line, the station's first radio talk show. Phone lines were flooded with calls to "Party Line" for its 20-year run, which ended with Ed King's death on November 18, 1971. Unlike most talk shows, callers were not heard but the couple took turns relating what they heard on the line. In 1956, newsman Bill Steinbach, began his 36-year career at KDKA. Within 10 years, Steinbach was anchor of the award-winning 90-to-6, Pittsburgh's popular news program. KDKA gradually embraced rock and roll music with artists such as Bill Haley, the Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, and Elvis Presley, in addition to popular vocalists including Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Peggy Lee. However, the station's sound remained much more conservative than most Top 40 stations.